Primer for washer pumps



June 24, 1930. R. E MANLEY PRIMER FOR WASHER PUMPS Filed June 7, 192'? own Patented June 24, 1930 UNITED sra'ras rarest easiest ROBERT MANLEY, OF YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T MANLEY MANUFAC- TURING COMPANY, OF YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE PRIMER FOR 'WASHER PUMPS Application filed June '7, 192 Serial No. 197,084.

This invention relates to pumps in general and has for its principal object the provision of an air relief valve which will permit the pump to be primed even tho the pressure should be quite high. A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and efficient priming device for an automobile Washing device.

Where liquid pumps are used to pressure." of three hundred pounds and under it is feasible to provide a high grade pet cock which can be opened to establish communication between the chest and atmosphere in order that the pump may be primed but when we operate at a pressure greater than two hundredpounds, for example we begin to counter great difficulty in making the pet cock stem liquid tight during operation of the pump, and in automobile washers at least, it has been found that no pet cock available will operate successfully on the high pressure which is necessary to secure the fine mist and the powerful. cutting stream which characterizes the Manley auto washers, and hence it is necessary to provide some other means for permitting escape of air from the chamber during the priming operation.

The device forming the essential element of the present invention is a simple ball check which can be fabricated at an extremely low price and may be fitted into one of the standard closure caps merely by tapping the cap and providing a small passage thru it.

' the water or other fluid thru the inlet 12.

In the upper Wall or diaphragm 14 is the in take valve 15 which, following the usual practice for high pressure pumps, is wing guided and is of bronze as is the valve seat itself. No claim of any kind is made for the particular type of valve or location of the various chambers and these are illustrated only to make more clear the invention. In the triplex pump illustrated there are three valves 15 and above each is a pipe plug or closure cap 16 which allows access to the valve for inspection. Each valve 15 admits fluid to a plunger chamber 20 and outlet valves 21 permit fluid to pass from theindividual plunger chambers 20 to the common discharge chamber 22, there being a discharge outlet 23. I

The three plungers are each provided with the usual stuffing boxes 31 and'upon downward stroke of a plunger the valve 15 is closed by its spring and the valve 21 is opened against its spring and upon upward movement of each plunger 30 the valve 15 admits fluid from the common intake 11 and the valve 21 is closed by its spring. In order to prime the device it is essential that air be allowed to escape from the individual plunger chambers 20. This can readily be accomplished by slightly backing off the three pipe plugs 16, one over each valve and then, when the pump is fully primed, resetting the three plugs. This while feasible is not practical as the threads of the plugs would soon be destroyed and therefore some more positive means must be provided. A rotating stem valve is absolutely out of the question as it will not remain'fluid tight if it can be turned for air relief or priming.

The difliculty is entirely overcome in a very satisfactory and convenient manner by drilling a small hole 40 thru the pipe plugs or closure caps 16 and by tapping the plug to receive a cylindrical valve casing 41 which is threaded as at 42 and has a central bore 43 and a much smaller bore 44 preferably coaxial and of the same size as the hole 40 in the cap. Between the two bores 43 and 44 a ball seat 45 is provided which is closed by a gravity acting steel ball 46. A small screw 5O fits in the tapped upper portion of the tion 51 and a small stem 53 preferably much smaller in diameter than the ball 46 and not appreciably greater than the diameter of the 7 used.

In the modification shown in Figure 4 the three chambers are joined together and a single ball valve 49 identical with that shown in Flgure 2 is provided for the connecting piping 55. It is preferred however, that each pipe plug or closure cap shall have its individual ball valve.

What I claim is 1. In a priming device for a pump for discharging liquid under pressure, a pump chest having a relief passage giving direct and free communication from the chest to the atmosphere, which passage must be closed during normal pumping operation to prevent loss of liquid therethru, a valve seat, avalve yielding to pressure within the chest during priming to permit air to escape from the chest and engaging said seat to close the relief passage during priming when the atmospheric pressure is greater than the pressure within the chest, and means for locking the valve to its seat to seal the relief passage during normal pumping operation, that is, when the liquid in the passage reaches the level of the valve so that the pump chest is completely filled with liquid.

2. The device of claim 1 in which the relief passage extends thru the wallof the intake chest of a multiple cylinder pump and the locking means is manually operable against pressures in excess of two hundred pounds.

3. The combination with a perforated closure cap or plug of the valve chest of a high pressure liquid pump, which closure cap is to give access to a valve of the pump, a valve to close yieldingly said perforation during priming, and manually operated means to lock the valve against yielding when the pump is primed.

4. In a pump for discharging liquid under a pressure above that at which a pet cock could be operated, a pump chamber having a wall thru which there is a bore opening to atmosphere, a spherical closure member loosely seated to close said bore, and a screw in said bore adapted to be turned by hand to engage the closure member to lock 1t to its seat. 7 e

5. In a pump having an intake chamber and a plunger chamber and having parallel horizontal walls, one forming the ceiling of the plunger chamber and the other forming a part of the partition between the plunger chamber and the intake chamber, a spring pressed valve in said partition wall, a perforated closure cap in the ceilingwa'll in alinemen-t with the spring pressed valve, a gravity acting relief valve in said cap, and means for locking the gravity valve to its seat to close the opening thru the closure cap.

6. In a pump for drawing liquid from areservoir and delivering it to nozzles at a pressure in excess of two hundred pounds per square inch, a spring pressed intake valve, a closure plug engaging the spring of said valve, said closure plug having an opening therethru leading from the interior of the pump body to the atmosphere, a valve carried by said closure plug and adapted to yield freely during thepr-iming operation to r lease air to atmosphere from the pump chamber during the discharge stroke of the pump plunger and to close the opening thru the closure plug during priming operation when the pump plunger is on its suction stroke whereby said valve releases air during priming and automatically closes to pre serve the suction, and a screw adapted to be rotated by hand into engagement with the valve to lock the valve to close the closure plug opening during normal operatio'n of the pump at the close of the priming opera tion.

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature. B ROBE-RT E. MANLEY. 

